Goosnargh No. 1 / Goosenergh / Goosnergh / Gosanarche / Gosanesarwe / Gosannesareghe / Gosenargh / Gosenhar / Gossenarwe / Gunanesarg / Gusansarghe

Goosnargh is one of dozens of places included in the entry for Preston in the hundred of Amounderness in the Domesday survey [https://opendomesday.org/place/SD5536/goosnargh/] [accessed 20 March 2019] that reports three churches in it. Whitaker (1823) reports "a parochial chapel under Kirkham" here, "of very considerable antiquity; but the present building, which has every feature of a parish church [...] is a restoration of the time of Henry VIII" [i.e., 1509-1547]; no font mentioned in it. Cox & Harvey (1907) list a baptismal font of the Norman period here. The entry for this township in the Victoria County History (Lancaster, vol. 7, 1912) notes: "In the grant of Kirkham to Vale Royal Abbey in 1281 its 'chapels' were included, [...] so that it is probable that ST. MARY'S, Goosnargh, already existed. It was frequently called a 'church,' and its district a 'parish' before the Reformation. [...] Direct proof of its existence begins in 1330 [...] the whole of the building is of late date [...] The font, which stands at the west end of the south aisle, is a square block of stone 2 ft. 3 in. in diameter and 1 ft. 5 in. high with a square bowl standing on a modern pedestal, and may be of 15th century date."